body and blood of Christ, when we come to consider that however small the portion of the gift* of the spiritual leaven, it is the same spirit-the same word-and that there are diversities of administrations and of operations of it. In 2 Cor. xiii. 5, it is written, "Know ye not your ownselves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates;" wherefore the same apostle saith, "Ye are the body of Christ§, and members in particular:" as in another place, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" Thus we have the spirit, but only in measure, yet we are called the body of Christ; and thus we may understand that there is nothing that hath life, or that produces it, but Christ, who is our life, is in it. In 1 Cor. xi. 24, we shall find it said, that our Lord" took bread; and when he had given + See Eph. iv. 7, and iii. 7; Tim. iv. 14; 1 Peter iv. 10, and Matt. xiii. 33; compared with Note Eph. iv, 6 and 7. § See Eph. iv. 12, 13; Phil. i. 20 ̊; and Col. i. 24. thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you." And the apostle points out, that "we eat unworthily unless we discern the Lord's body." There is nothing in the bread to produce life of itself, it is the word which is spirit that quickens *. "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." And further he saith, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living It may be observed, that the chemist cannot extract one drop of blood from the bread, though it produces the flesh, whereby we may know that it is the word, and that it is a miracle. Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven *: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead; he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." Our Lord says, thing," it is the word that quickeneth: but the word said, "This is my body;" and to suppose that the word, because it is spirit, does not mean what it says, when speaking in regard to identified and material thingst, is no belief at all; for if the word bid me eat a thing which is to restore me to health, am I to eat it in the spirit only? no, I must actually eat it, and when I have done so, it is spiritually eaten, because I believe the word; the flesh profiteth nothing. Naaman believed the words of the "The flesh profiteth no, *He points here to the manna in the wilderness, which was eaten by the greater part of the Israelites unworthily. Being worthy. See 1 Cor. xi. 17. As where our Lord speaks concerning the bread in his hand, which is very different from his saying, "I am the door;" for the word (made flesh) identifies no material door, save himself. man of God, but it was necessary that he should dip seven times in the waters of Jordan to be healed. If nothing in particular is appointed to be done to effect a cure, at once it may be said, "thy faith hath made thee whole, but if any thing is commanded, it must be done according to the letter. Solomon, speaking of the Judgments upon Egypt, with an allusion to hereafter things saith, "That thy children, O Lord, whom thou lovest, might know, that it is not the growing of fruits that nourisheth man; but that it is thy word which preserveth them that put their trust in Thee." What the word saith, we are to believe, and it is that which commanded the flesh to be our life, in this present time,* and which would be profitable for nothing, but for the spirit-the quickening word which it embodies. * In 1 Tim. iv. 1, it is pointed out that "God hath created meats to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth;" but it is said, that "in the latter times many will give heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats." Note particularly the 4th, 5th, and 6th, verses. See Cor. x. 27, 28, and 31; and Acts x. 14. 28. If, like the Israelites in the wilderness, we eat the manna in which is life now, and hereafter also, if we eat it, being worthy: if, I say, we eat the manna, and believe not in the words of God, we are thankless for his great benefits, and will be accounted unworthy of his promised inheritance; which is, indeed, a land that is the glory of all lands,→ it is "the mountain of Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem*;” answering to the tabernacle of the congregation of the just†; which showed (at the time the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt, which had a shadow of ulterior things,) as a pillar of a cloud by day, and a fire by night: "Beautiful for situation," saith the Psalmist, "the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." * Heb. xii. 22, and Gal. iv. 26. Psalm i. 5. Isa. xiv. 13. Exodus xxxiii. 7, and xl, 35. Psalm xxii. 22, and Heb. xi. 12, 13, compared with xii. 22, 23: see also Dan. xi. 45. |